Accommodation providers must support students
The Scottish Greens have called on student accommodation providers not to ‘trap’ students who have had to leave their halls early due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Scottish Greens Education Spokesperson Ross Greer MSP has called on the providers, including Hello Student and IQ Student Accommodation, to follow the example of Unite Students and others and release students who are impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency from their tenancies.
Ross Greer MSP said:
“It is great to see that providers like Unite Students have made a commitment that no students will be forced to pay for accommodation that they can’t use because of a public health crisis. This is clearly the right course of action and one that is appreciated by those students affected.
“Unfortunately, other providers including IQ Student Accommodation and Hello Student have instead disgracefully refused to support students at this time of crisis. In response to enquiries from my colleague Mark Ruskell MSP on behalf of his constituents at St Andrews, Hello Student even ludicrously tried to claim that it ‘does not provide “university” accommodation’.
“Instead of trying to maximise their own profits, companies like Hello Student, who have access to the same government support as any other company, should recognise that they must do the right thing by students at a time of crisis. If they are not moved by the moral case, perhaps they might consider that many of the same students they are treating abysmally today will be looking for accommodation next year, and if this behaviour carries on they might just look elsewhere.”